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Modern Exploration Mars Odyssey. NASA’s theme for Mars exploration, “Follow the Water”, began with the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission Odyssey, and every mission since, has addressed the Mars programs’ four goals: Determine whether life ever arose on Mars Characterize the climate of Mars - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Modern ExplorationMars Odyssey
NASA’s theme for Mars exploration, “Follow the Water”, began with the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
Odyssey, and every mission since, has addressed the Mars programs’ four goals: Determine whether life ever arose on Mars Characterize the climate of Mars Characterize the geology of Mars Prepare for human exploration
Modern ExplorationMars Odyssey
Objectives: Determine the abundance of hydrogen, most likely in the
form of water ice, in the shallow subsurface Globally map the elements that make up the surface Acquire high-resolution thermal infrared images of surface
minerals Provide information about the structure of the Martian surface Record the radiation environment in low Mars orbit as it
relates to radiation-related risk to human exploration
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Launched April 7, 2001; arrived October 24, 2001
3 instruments: Thermal Emission Imaging
System (THEMIS); mineralogy Gamma Ray Spectrometer
(GRS); elemental composition Martian Radiation
Environment Experiment (MARIE)
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Launched April 7, 2001; arrived October 24, 2001
3 instruments: Thermal Emission Imaging
System (THEMIS); mineralogy Gamma Ray Spectrometer
(GRS); elemental composition Martian Radiation
Environment Experiment (MARIE)
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
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Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Notable results from Odyssey Evidence for vast amounts of subsurface water ice at both
polar regions Can you see it?
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
Notable results from Odyssey Evidence for vast amounts of subsurface water ice at both
polar regions Can you see it? Where is it? Underneath the surface but… How deep? Is it dirty ice? Or icy dirt?
Modern ExplorationOdyssey
How is Odyssey advancing scientific understanding of Mars? Water-ice exists underneath the surface in the polar regions,
not just at the poles
What technological advance(s) does Odyssey carry? GRS; able to “look” below the surface
Modern ExplorationMars Reconnaissance Orbiter
“MRO is basically a spy satellite orbiting Mars.”
Modern ExplorationMRO
Objectives: Characterize the present climate of Mars and how the climate
changes from season-to-season and year-to-year Characterize Mars’ global atmosphere and monitor its
weather Investigate complex terrain on Mars and identify water-
related landforms Search for sites showing stratigraphic or compositional
evidence of water or hydrothermal activity
Modern ExplorationMRO
Objectives: Probe beneath the surface for evidence of subsurface
layering, water and ice, and profile the internal structure of the polar ice caps
Identify and characterize sites with the highest potential for future missions that will land on Mars’ surface, including possible missions to collect samples for returning to Earth
Relay scientific information to Earth from Mars surface missions.
Modern ExplorationMRO
Launched August 12, 2005; arrived March 10, 2006Aerobraked for 6 months, settling into its mapping orbit
in November 2006
Modern ExplorationMRO
Instruments: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE);
providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix) Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery Mars Color Imager (MARCI) Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder
(MCS); spectrometer Shallow Radar (SHARAD)
Modern ExplorationMRO
Instruments: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE);
providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix) Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery Mars Color Imager (MARCI) Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder
(MCS); spectrometer Shallow Radar (SHARAD)
Modern ExplorationMRO Instruments:
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE); providing the highest-res images EVER (30 cm/pix)
Context Camera (CTX); wide-angle imagery Mars Color Imager (MARCI) Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Mars Climate Sounder (MCS);
spectrometer Shallow Radar (SHARAD)
Modern ExplorationMRO
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/SwRI
Modern ExplorationMRO
All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationMRO
All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationMRO
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationMRO
Notable results from MRO It’s difficult to list results considering MRO is ongoing So much data coming back it will take years to go through the
data, if it even all be analyzed (citizen science!!)
Modern ExplorationMRO
How is MRO advancing scientific understanding of Mars? This is also difficult Structure of ice cap Better selection of landing sites
What technological advance(s) does MRO carry? Highest-res camera EVER Radar allowing us to peer under the ice cap(s)
DIRTY ICE, ICY DIRT &MAPPING THE SURFACEOF MARS!!!
Modern ExplorationMars Phoenix Lander
“The Phoenix has risen!” - Peter Smith, August 4, 2007
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Objectives: Study the history of water in the Martian arctic Search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the
biological potential of the ice-soil boundary
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Launched August 4, 2007; landed on May 25, 2008 on the northern arctic plains
Operated for ~6 months; unlike the MER rovers, Phoenix had no chance of surviving more than 6-7 months
First Mars mission run by a university – University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Instruments: Surface Stereo Imager (SSI); surface images Thermal & Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA); organics detection Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer
(MECA); wet chemistry lab Robotic Arm (RA); sampling & imaging Robotic Arm Camera (RAC); imaging RA scoop before dumping
samples, imaging below the lander deck Meteorological Station (MET); daily weather, first LIDAR on Mars Mars Descent Imager (MARDI); take images as Phoenix was
landing
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
All images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
Notable results from Phoenix Confirmation of Odyssey/GRS measurements of subsurface
water-ice Detection of falling snow Evidence from atmospheric studies that liquid water once
flowed across the Martian surface Perchlorate (toxic) found in the soils; caused the soil to be
surprisingly sticky, very similar to soils in the Antarctic Dry Valleys
Modern ExplorationPhoenix
How did Phoenix advance scientific understanding of Mars? Science is on-going
What technological advance(s) did Phoenix carry? LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)
Future Exploration
What are the big questions that will guide future investigations of Mars? Did life ever evolve on Mars? And, if so, does it still persist in
the near- or deep-subsurface? How does one reconcile the growing evidence that the
ancient valley networks of Mars were formed by rainfall yet early Martian climate models fail to produce conditions suitable for water to exist as a liquid?
Did early Mars have a northern ocean? Was the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere real
or the product of observational error? If real, what is the source of that methane?
A Final Thought
Success rate of all missions to Mars:
1/3 or 33%
Success rate of US missions to Mars:
2/3 or 66%